NATO Council to decide on partial deployment to Macedonia

Published: Wednesday, August 15, 2001

JEFFREY ULBRICHAssociated Press Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium {AP} NATO leaders presented a proposal to their national governments for the partial deployment of a 3,500-member military mission to Macedonia, moving forward Wednesday with a plan the alliance hopes will pave the way for peace in the Balkan nation.

The alliance's ruling council set a 5 p.m. (11 a.m. EDT) deadline for any of NATO's 19-member governments to object to the plan. If they do not, the council will authorize deployment of the mission's headquarters, communications and other essential support elements  about 400 personnel.

The 3,500-strong British-led force would collect and destroy arms and ammunition held by the rebels. The 30-day mission, dubbed Operation Essential Harvest, would include troops from the United States and 11 European nations.

NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said a decision to deploy partially does not imply a later decision on deployment of the entire task force. That decision will only be made after NATO determines that there is a durable cease-fire.

"We are in a very active dynamic," Brodeur said. "Things are moving quickly. It's been very positive since the signature of the agreement. Lots of things have happened and we are encouraged by what has happened so far."

If the council approves the partial deployment, another meeting will be held later this week or possibly on Monday to discuss full deployment.

NATO set four conditions for sending in troops: a political agreement between the parties, a NATO-Macedonia agreement setting out the legal basis for the deployment, an agreement with the rebels for turning in weapons, and a cease-fire.

The first three have been fulfilled. Despite the signing of the peace agreement on Monday, however, sporadic violence has continued.

The Macedonian Defense Ministry said Wednesday there was fighting overnight between the insurgents and government forces in the second-largest city of Tetovo and surrounding villages.

The ministry said ethnic Albanian rebels attacked Macedonian security forces deployed near the city's soccer stadium, and around Sara Mountain and other villages near Tetovo and in the Kumanovo area, north of Skopje. Government forces returned fire. There was no word on casualties.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson had been pressing the ambassadors to move quickly to keep up the momentum of the political agreement.

Once NATO gives the activation order, the first elements can be on their way almost immediately.

The British, who will lead the Macedonia mission, say the headquarters group could start deploying over the weekend.

The initial deployment is expected to be drawn from Britain's 16 Air Assault Brigade.

The complete deployment of troops from Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United States, would take about two weeks, though the first weapons collection could begin earlier.

The exact number of American troops has not been determined, officials at the Pentagon said. But they will be mostly support units and will be drawn largely from forces already in the area, in Kosovo and Bosnia.

NATO officials insist that this is a very narrowly defined mission and will involve collecting weapons being turned in voluntarily. It is not a mission to disarm the Albanians.

On Wednesday, the German government said it wants to take advantage of the cease-fire to get NATO troops deployed.

"The signs are positive," government spokeswoman Charima Reinhardt said. "It is clear that we all want to use this moment of the agreement."

Monday's peace deal, which came after six months of bloody conflict, gives ethnic Albanians a larger share of power in the police, parliament and education.

In Skopje, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski said Wednesday he will ask Parliament to amend the constitution to give the ethnic Albanian minority more rights, the first formal step in implementing the peace deal and paving the way for NATO.

Parliament would ratify the amendments three days after NATO informs the government that ethnic Albanian rebels have been disarmed, state television reported.

On Tuesday, NATO reached deals with the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanians on the deployment of alliance soldiers and the disarming of rebels in this impoverished country.

The rebels officially declared they intend to hand in about 2,000 weapons, a figure NATO is trying to persuade the Macedonian government to accept.

NATO and ethnic Albanian officials said the insurgents pledged to hand in their weapons to the British-led force.